Aces still a work in progress heading into MVC play

Asked to assess his University of Evansville basketball team as it finished nonconference play, coach Marty Simmons simply said, "That's tough."

Evansville (7-5) posted an above-.500 record but lost each of its four marquee games, to teams either ranked or receiving votes in national polls, as well as dropped a contest to Buffalo after senior Colt Ryan went down injured in the first half.

"To be honest, we should probably be a little farther along than we are," Simmons said after the Aces' 65-57 loss at Butler on Saturday. "I thought we battled harder today than we did at Notre Dame or maybe even Colorado State or Murray State. That's a step in the right direction.

"But we had high expectations for our basketball team."

The Aces were talking Missouri Valley Conference championship possibilities before the season started. Then came a number of consistent shortcomings, many of which center around them playing inconsistently in the paint.

The Aces are routinely out-rebounded by opponents — it was a 39-29 edge against Butler — and though freshman Egidijus Mockevicius starts at center, it's anyone's guess as to who will log the most minutes among he, Ryan Sawvell and Jaylon Moore, both sophomores.

"We've got to sustain everything for 40 minutes," Ryan said. "We've been saying that ever since day one. But we've really got to finish the ball. We got good looks at the basket, but we've got to score … We've got to value possessions offensively."

Evansville is actually above average in that it scores more than a point per possession, but the Aces are capitalizing at a lower rate than last season. And at times, especially during losses to ranked foes Notre Dame and Butler, Evansville seemed a shot away from getting over the hump and contending late.

"We've always fought until the end," Ryan said. "We always try to keep the game as close as possible. There's no quit in us."

Through that, the Aces have come away with some positives heading into their MVC slate.

They rarely turn the ball over, featuring a 1.33 assist-to-turnover ratio that ranks in the top 25 nationally, while forcing opponents into 16 giveaways a game. Evansville also makes better than 70 percent of its free throws and generally beats who it should — the Alabama A&Ms and Yales of the world.

Problem is, the Aces won't see many pushovers in MVC play. Sixteen of 18 games will come against teams that currently have winning records.

"We've just got to be able to grind out the win and not have those segments where we let up," said senior Ned Cox. "We see the bright side of it. We see glimpses of what we can be. It's just a matter of taking those high moments and sustaining it throughout all 40 minutes. As soon as we can do that, we'll be a pretty good team."

The Aces open league play Saturday against Creighton, which is 11-1 and undefeated against major-conference opponents. The 13th-ranked Bluejays were picked to win the MVC this season and feature junior Doug McDermott, a preseason all-American forward averaging 23.1 points and 6.8 rebounds a game.

"We're going to play against teams like Butler in our league," Simmons said. "Creighton's good, Illinois State is good, and right down the line. So to be competitive in our own league, we've got to learn from our experiences and we have to improve."